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Troy Voters Face $2.2 Million School Bond Vote

TROY – Next Tuesday, voters will be asked to approve a bond about $2.2 million for renovations and improvements to the town school. An informational meeting about the bond will be held tomorrow night, 6 p.m., at the Troy Elementary School.The money is to replace the sprinkler system and make the school more energy efficient, which includes upgrading the 34-year-old heating system that doesn’t even provide heat throughout the building. The sprinkler system is so old that it’s all falling apart, School Board Member Carol Currier said Monday afternoon. She said it’s a given that the sprinkler system gets replaced. Last year the school board spent a lot of money on system repairs. “It is old,” said Currier. “The pipes are all falling apart.”The sprinkler is a dry system, which means it’s empty until something happens. If the heating system goes down and the system charges, the water will freeze and break the pipes. Sometimes the sprinkler system charges for no reason.“Last year we had workers crawling around in the ceiling of the school for about three weeks replacing what they could replace,” said Currier. “If the bond goes through, the idea is to make a hot roof so we can have a wet system, which costs about a third of the cost of a dry system.”If the bond fails, the school board will continue to repair the existing system, said Currier, who noted it would get to the point to where it can’t be fixed. Then it will have to be replaced with another dry system, because the school wouldn’t have a hot roof.The school board also wants make the school as energy efficient as possible. “That’s our main goal,” said Currier. The windows, doors and boiler are the original ones from when the school was built in 1978 and are not energy efficient. “They have so much more energy efficient products today than they did in 1978,” said Currier. “We just feel by upgrading the windows, doors and putting the hot roof in, we will save money on energy.” If the boiler system goes down, the school board might be looking at spending more money and paying it back in a quicker amount of time. The school board is looking for grants but has not found anything, and the state won’t be able to help, said Currier, who added that if the bond passes, future budgets would be better. “We won’t have so much money going to fixing all these problems,” she said. “Hopefully it will cost less for fuel and electricity.”Voters will still be asked to approve the school budget, $2.4 million, on Town Meeting Day in March.